Cold second-half shooting plagues Eastern Washington in loss to UC Santa Barbara 67-51

From staff reports

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – After a competitive first half, Eastern Washington’s early lead in the second half quickly evaporated as UC Santa Barbara blew past the Eagles for a 67-51 victory in a men’s nonconference basketball game Tuesday night at The Thunderdome.

A layup by senior Andrew Cook gave Eastern a 32-30 lead one minute into the second half, but the Gauchos seized control with a 9-0 run and didn’t look back. They made half their shots (24 of 48) overall while the Eagles made 30% (18 of 61).

Eastern (1-6) was without regular starters Mason Williams (13.5 points per game), who missed his third game in a row, and Sebastian Hartmann, the team’s fourth-leading scorer this season at 10 points per game.

Without those two sophomores, the Eagles leaned heavily on Cook (14 points), redshirt junior Nic McClain (seven) and redshirt freshman Emmett Marquardt, who matched a career high with 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double.

The seven points (on 3-for-10 shooting) were the second fewest of the season for McClain, who had scored 24, 24 and 28 points in his past three games.

The Eagles struggled to string together shots, especially from 3-point range (5 of 22). The Gauchos (5-1) had little trouble on 3-pointers (10 of 24). Senior Deuce Turner scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field for UCSB.

Eastern also made just 10 of 17 free throws (a season-low 59%).

It was the Eagles’ fifth loss in a row, and their 51 points were the fewest they have scored this season.

Eastern plays at Utah (5-1) on Saturday and returns home to play North Dakota (3-3) on Dec. 4.